History Matters

What started out as a simple memoir he was planning to leave his grandchildren one day has now developed into a book, written by Dr Sedick Isaacs, 72. Isaacs was a political activist and prisoner incarcerated on Robben Island in 1963, for 12 years. However, in 1969 his sentence was increased for operating a pirate [...]

May 6 2012 at 09:36am By Donwald Pressly. Comment on this story Independent Newspapers Declaring that her ministry was not “a Hollywood” set, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson instigated a trail of destruction through her department on Friday by suspending the acting deputy director-general in charge of the fisheries sub-department, allegedly on the [...]

Source: http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/2012/05/06/the-forgotten-toll-road by John GI Clarke | 06 May, 2012 00:54 Until South Africa heeds the lessons from e-tolling nightmares in Gauteng and beyond, it will be condemned to repeat them The Gauteng e-tolling saga has become a disaster of titanic proportions for Sanral CEO Nazir Alli. A century after the sinking of the supposedly unsinkable [...]

This is an edited vertion of address by the ANC president, Jacob Zuma, at the memorial lecture for the organisation’s fourth president, Josiah Tshangana Gumede. We meet here during the most important month in the history of our country – April, our Freedom Month, when we celebrate the birth of democracy and freedom in South [...]

Rodney Warwick writes on another significant anniversary, ignored by the ANC Introduction No single internal military operation within this country’s history, matches the ferocity of the events on the Witwatersrand, now Gauteng, ninety years ago this week. But this important event in South African history – like the centenary of the Union of South Africa [...]

In response to Rapule Tamane’s “The strident tune of a one-man band” (M&G 01/08/2011), Yunus Carrim and Ben Martins are correct to argue that to reduce the SACP General Secretary’s apparent authoritarian behavior and intolerance to his “personal whim is simplistic”. As they correctly state, Nzimande does not simply conduct himself of his own accord [...]

Mandela’s membership of the Communist Party: what needs to be reassessed? by Tom Lodge The evidence that Stephen Ellis refers to about Mandela’s membership of the Communist Party is pretty definitive. It is based upon recollections of party members some of whose testimony is derived from first hand experience. Joe Matthews was a member of [...]

The history of the Young Communist League (YCL) dates back to 1921, although the organisation observes 25 May 1922 as the date of its official formation. History reveals that there is evidence of YCL activities in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 1921. Edward Roux, who was to play a leading role in the affairs of [...]

Between June 14 and June 23, 2011, a delegation of 11 scholars, activists, and artists visited occupied Palestine. As indigenous and women of color feminists involved in multiple social justice struggles, we sought to affirm our association with the growing international movement for a free Palestine. We wanted to see for ourselves the conditions under [...]